


Those Who Are Left

by malinaldarose (coralysendria)



Category: Earth: Final Conflict
Genre: Canonical Character Death, Community: trope_bingo, Gen, Grief/Mourning, Trope Bingo Amnesty, Trope Bingo Round 14
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-05
Updated: 2020-07-05
Packaged: 2021-03-04 23:21:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,428
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25094515
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/coralysendria/pseuds/malinaldarose
Summary: Liam and Lili are assigned to search Boone's house for any sensitive materials after his death.
Comments: 8
Kudos: 4





	Those Who Are Left

Lili parked the car in front of William Boone's house and sat for a moment holding the steering wheel with a white-knuckled grip. She had said very little since picking Liam up at the embassy. Sensing that this was not a time for chat, he got out of the car, closing the door and leaning against it to give her a few moments. She had been very upset by Boone's death, but with the events of the last few days -- her promotion to working with Sandoval, his own assumption of Boone's job, and the Jaridian replicant's attack on Da'an -- she had not had the luxury of time to grieve. It was hitting her now, he thought, especially given their business here.

The Synod had assigned them to search Boone's home for any sensitive materials before the contents were turned over to Boone's sister Sarah -- Liam, because he was Boone's replacement and because he had ostensibly been Boone's friend, and Lili because she had been Boone's aide.

Coincidentally, the Liberation, in the person of Jonathan Doors, had given them the same assignment. Actually, no, Liam thought, shaking his head, Doors had given _Lili_ the assignment. Furious at the way that Liam had acted on his own initiative to finagle his way into Boone's empty position as Da'an's protector -- and, by necessity, the Liberation's new spy -- Doors was still refusing to speak to Liam unless it was absolutely necessary.

Liam studied the house curiously; he'd been born in a cave and lived in an apartment carved out of a warehouse; this was actually the first house he had seen in his short life. Two storeys, painted white with black shutters and a nice-sized yard. He could see plants of some sort in one of the wide windows. The lawn needed to be mowed, but the house had not yet acquired that feeling of neglect that empty houses did.

It was the sort of home that people bought when they were thinking of starting a family.

After a moment, the driver side door opened and Lili joined him, her face expressionless. "Let's do this," she said grimly. She led the way to the front door, holding out her hand for the key that Da'an had solemnly given to Liam. 

"Do you think there's really anything here?" Liam asked, handing it over. Though he was technically in charge, the only right thing to do was to defer to Lili, as Boone's real friend.

She shook her head. "Probably not. Boone didn't like to bring work home." The door slid over a small pile of mail when she opened it; she scooped the envelopes and advertising flyers up, leaving Liam to secure the door. While Lili sorted through the mail, Liam wandered farther into the house.

Inside, it was as warm and welcoming as it appeared from the outside. Polished hardwood floors and light paint reflected the light streaming through the large windows onto the plants Liam had seen from outside. Orchids, his parents' memories informed him. Like the shaggy lawn, the flowers showed signs of neglect; they needed to be watered, no doubt with the spray bottle tucked discreetly behind one of the pots.

As Liam picked up the mister to attend to the flowers, a tingle of energy ran up his arm and he saw Boone kissing a pretty blonde woman -- his wife -- as she watered the orchids. Kate turned, laughing, and sprayed Boone with the same mister Liam now gripped tightly in his hand. As the vision faded, he had to consciously make his fingers relax so he could spray the plants as he had seen Kate do. His father, under the influence of his CVI, had had Kate killed so that Boone would agree to work for Da'an. Liam closed his eyes in pain, feeling the guilt that his father had not, but there was nothing he could do; not even the Kimera could turn back time.

Lili finished with the mail, leaving most of it stacked neatly on the side table. "You look around down here," she directed, turning toward the stairs to the second floor. She gestured toward a door beyond the stairwell. "That's Boone's study over there; anything of value is likely to be in there. I'll take the upstairs."

"Okay," Liam said agreeably. He put down the mister and headed toward the study as Lili climbed the stairs, her boot heels tapping on the risers.

~*~*~

Liam had amassed a small stack of papers and a pile of little Taelon doo-dads from Boone's desk when he realized that he hadn't heard Lili moving around upstairs for a while. He scanned the papers into his global and sent the images off to Augur for the Liberation, then folded the papers and tucked them into his jacket's interior pocket. The bits and pieces, he stuffed into a small paper bag that he found in a kitchen drawer. He knew from his father's memories that nothing here was either secret or even particularly important; several of the doo-dads, for instance, could be bought at any mall electronics shop. It was the alien equivalent of carrying a pen home from the office in one's pocket. Presenting them to Da'an along with the papers, however, would show his due diligence in carrying out his assignment.

He cocked his head, listening intently, but still heard nothing. Concerned, he left the study, dropping the bag by the front door, before climbing the stairs, making no attempt at stealth. He found himself in a hallway with two doors on either side and one at the end. Picking the first door on his left, he peered in to find Lili sitting on Boone's neatly made bed, tears running silently down her face.

At first, he wasn't sure what to do -- he was, after all, only a couple of days old, and he had never seen a woman crying before -- but then his mother's memories prompted him. He took a careful seat next to her on the bed.

"Lili?" he asked gently, "are you okay?"

"No. Go away, Liam." She turned her head away from him, her eyes closed. She made no effort to dry her tears.

He tried again. "Do you want to talk about it?"

She shook her head without looking at him. "You wouldn't understand."

"You don't think so? Try me." He might not, but he certainly wouldn't if she wouldn't talk about it. Whatever it was, he wanted to help. Lili had been nothing but kind to him, even when she was angry after Boone's funeral. He knew, too, that she had been frightened for him while he and Da'an had been waiting in the embassy for the Jaridian replicant's attack.

He waited silently until Lili sighed and opened her eyes. "That book," she said, nodding toward the stack on the bedside table. "The one on top. I gave him that for his birthday."

It was a handsome book, some sort of antique reproduction, Liam thought. He couldn't quite see the title and thought it would be rude to peer around Lili to read it, so he made a noncommittal, encouraging noise instead.

She turned to him, meeting his eyes at last, her own swollen and red. He wondered how long she had been sitting here silently crying. "Do you know what love is, Liam?"

Surprised, he nodded. "Of course I do."

"Do you? I wonder. You're so young, Liam, and part alien besides. How can you possibly know?" 

This, he could definitely answer. "Age has nothing to do with it, Lili. And do you think only human beings love? Ha'gel loved. My human parents love. Do you think that because I can't acknowledge them that I don't love them? Do you think I don't love you and Augur and Dr. Park?"

"I'm not sure it's the same thing," Lili replied. She hesitated, as though debating what to say next, then plunged on with the air of someone needing to unburden themselves of a painful secret. "I loved him. Boone. I never told him because he loved Kate so much and he could never let go of her. How could I intrude on that?"

"And now he's gone," Liam said softly. Having just seen a glimpse of that relationship, Liam thought he understood why Boone hadn't moved on. "And you can't tell him. I'm sorry, Lili."

She lowered her eyes. "So am I, Liam."

Greatly daring, he put his arm around her shoulder. She was stiff for a moment, then she leaned into him, and he held her gently while she wept.

**Author's Note:**

> 1\. In the Season 3 episode "In Memory," Lili, beginning to distrust the situation in which she finds herself, asks Liam to tell her the name of the one person she has ever been in love with. Liam unhesitatingly says, "William Boone." The exchange indicates that a) Lili _expected_ Liam to know the answer, so b) she must have told him -- in confidence -- at some point.
> 
> 2\. This is set between "First of Its Kind" and "Atavus," the first two episodes of Season 2.
> 
> 3\. This fills the Death Fic square on my Trope Bingo card for Round 13 and is posted for Round 14's Amnesty.
> 
> 4\. The original prompt was "the pile of books on his bedside table" (referring to no specific person).


End file.
